


Shadows of the Past

by Gdamnbluepool



Category: Star Wars
Genre: Jedi, Lightsaber, Sith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 06:57:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14995319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gdamnbluepool/pseuds/Gdamnbluepool
Summary: Sometimes the past comes back to bite...





	Shadows of the Past

The younglings watch in amazed silence as the two Jedi Masters move around each other in an elegant dance of martial prowess. On one end is recently promoted Jedi Master Reden Yandios. His olive green eyes are locked on his opponent as he circles to the right, his activated saber thrumming softly in a two hand grip. His facial features are a mask of concentration as he continues to lightly step across the sparring ring. Across from him, Master Tomaz Euclid regards his former student with an amused grin on his canine features. He moves in tandem with Reden, holding his saber one handed. “Well, Master Yandios, are we here to spar or do you wish to merely gaze deeply into my eyes for a bit longer?” the Nalroni swordsman asks. Reden makes a soft sound before stepping in.

The Human Jedi feints an overhead strike before twisting his emerald blade down for a swipe at his opponent’s torso. The pure white blade of Tomaz’s crossguard saber intercepts the attack and he twists the hilt while pressing forward, sending one of the horizontal shafts of energy towards Reden’s face. The younger Master is forced to push back and to the side to prevent from getting an eyeful of energy, putting him slightly off balance. Tomaz presses the advantage, bringing his weapon to bear upon the other in a series of quick slashes. Master Yandios grimaces at being put on the defensive, but quickly begins formulating a plan on how to counter this rush and turn it around for his benefit. He would have his victory over his former teacher on this day as he opens himself up to the Force.

_“Master!”_ Suddenly, he get a sensation that hits him like a hammer, causing his body to visibly shift back. Tomaz notes this and adds a bit more power to his next swing. Reden is unprepared for it and his saber is torn from his slackened grip. The brilliant green blade tumbles end over end for a second before the younglings catch it with the Force, holding it suspended high in the air. Reden blinks his eyes back into focus and reaches out, drawing his saber back to his outstretched hand, deactivating it as it descends. Master Euclid deactivates his weapon and walks over to his opponent. In those golden brown eyes, an unspoken question is asked. Master Yandios touches his forehead slightly, still trying to process what he felt as he places the hilt of his saber on his hip.

“It seems that even now, this old dog has learned some new tricks,” Reden says suddenly, loud enough for the younglings to here. Tomaz smiles and claps him on the shoulder twice before giving it a squeeze. “One never stops learning, Master Yandios. Besides, I couldn’t let you embarrass me in front of the younglings. I’d be out of a job,” the Nalroni retorts with a bit of laughter. The younglings clap and smile as the two Jedi Masters grip one another’s forearms. “Are you alright? That hit should have been easy to deflect,” Tomaz whispers to Reden as they share a post match one armed embrace. “I don’t know yet. I felt something…different…I must go meditate on this,” he replies in an equally low voice. He then steps back and bows slightly. “I thank you for the match, Master Euclid. It seems I need to learn a few more tricks myself,” Reden adds at normal volume. Tomaz returns his bow and turns to get the younglings lined up for drills. 

Reden quietly exits as he thinks back to what he had felt. Upon opening himself to the Force, he had been given a shock. The shock had felt like a physical blow upon his person. His mind begins analyzing the events as he gathers his robes and heads to a meditation alcove. It hadn’t been an attack from Tomaz. His fellow Jedi Master would not have questioned him if he had been the source of the stumble. He rounds a corner, nodding to a pair of passing Padawans. There had been no one else in the room, besides the Younglings and he was sure that none of them tried to interfere with the sparring session. They knew it was merely for show and no harm was going to befall either Master. He grimaces as he enters the Meditation Chapel.

Reden settles into an alcove and begins to clear his thoughts and open his mind to the Force. He turned it inwards upon himself, searching for anything amiss. He knew his body well, but knew better than to just go on that knowledge alone. After searching internally and finding nothing, he turned his focus to the galaxy at large. For a few moments, nothing seemed amiss. Everything seemed as normally chaotic as always. She used to always speak of the ordered chaos that was the universe. It is that thought that gives him pauses and causes him to take note of something. He couldn’t feel her. His brow furrows as he intensifies his focus to try and find her, but to no avail. Confusion turns into amused disappointment. She had probably been captured by someone adept in dealing with Force sensitive quarry. She would get a message out, he was sure of it. Once it was received by the Temple, he would volunteer to go and save his former Padawan with the promise of a stern lecture when he did. He smiles at the thought and stands up, heading out of the Chapel to return to his room and get some sleep.

As he hits deep enough sleep, Reden begins to dream. As always, he quickly takes control of the dream, and begins guiding it in the manner he chooses. This dream is filled with copies of himself and Tomaz dueling in a massive stadium. He watches over the many battles, nodding in approval at the various ways he could attack the blademaster and bring about his own victory. He grins as he spots a Tomaz unpaired with a Reden. This must be his sparring partner for the evening. Throwing off his robe, Reden jumps down and heads over to the solitary Tomaz. The two warriors bow to each other and ignite their sabers. Reden immediately notices something is amiss when, instead of the pure white blade of normal, Tomaz’s saber ignites into a pale orange blade. That was unusual. Now, Tomaz’s stance was all wrong. This stance was used… _“Good bye…”_

Reden suddenly is brought back to consciousness by a sound within his room. An incessant beeping of sort coming from the nightstand. He rubs his face and tries to wake his mind a bit more before answering the comlink. “This is Master Yandios speaking,” he answers roughly, trying his best to keep the irritation out of his voice. With his new rank came new duties and because of those duties he hadn’t been able to sleep as deeply as he preferred. Being awoken from a dream moving out of his control by a beeping comlink was low on the list of best ways to have been awoken. “Sorry to disturb your sleep cycle, Master Yandios, but urgent new has come from Klatooine. I was told you were to be informed of this, immediately,” the young voice says from the comlink’s speaker. Reden rubs his face again, trying to think of why Klatooine was so important. “Why-“ he begins to say as the realization hits him like a blaster bolt between the eyes. His former apprentice, Shan’aria Selcetio, was dead.

Master Yandios barely remembers the process of getting dressed and heading to the Communications Control room. With how late it was, there were a few people manning the consoles, younglings that would not become Knights, but still served the Jedi in another important role. Some turned to look at him before forcing their gazes back to their work. An olive skinned female Mirialan approaches him and bows slightly. “Master Yandios, I thank you for coming so soon. I am Teikoss , the Jedi Knight in charge of this night shift. I know that it is an atrocious hour, but it was decided that you needed to see this as soon as possible,” she explains as she stands straight up again. Reden nods slightly in her direction and turns towards the main screen. It currently shows various systems and scrolls with the information of various missions and agencies all across it.

“Show me,” he says softly. Teikoss nods and gestures to someone off to the side. The screen wavers briefly before it brightens into a view of Shan’aria in what looks to be a market place. She had chosen a green tabard over her tan tunic. Tan pants tucked into brown boots and her overcloak resting confidently on her shoulders. Her skin is a pale blue with dark green patterns on the white flesh of her lekku. She had always been proud of the length and girth of those tendrils and her montrals as they came in. She was smiling at the current time in the video, discussing something with a local vendor and her troop retinue. Everything seemed to be going well, but Reden catches a subtle shift in her expression. Her lekku twitched which meant she had felt something wrong.

Without audio, it was hard to tell what it was that caught her attention, but suddenly the twin sunburst orange blades of her staff saber blaze to life as crimson bolts begin cutting through the air around her. Two troopers go down instantly as the camera wiggles a bit, tracking the movement of the Togruta Knight as she bats away the incoming blaster bolts and engages the hoodlums who had seemingly opened fire at random. Reden watches as she makes quick decisive strikes, aiming to disarm and not kill. It was something he tried to train out of her, but she was against ending life unnecessarily. It probably made her a better Jedi than he. Reden watches with pride as his former apprentice covers her troops and makes quick work of the attackers. The camera zooms in and he is able to see her sea green eyes full of concern for the lives under her charge.

Her head suddenly snaps up and she whirls around, bringing her saber up to block a blue energy blade? Reden frowns as the camera zooms out and reveals a male in black armor over a grey flightsuit wielding a blue lightsaber attacking Shan’aria. The confusion takes a backseat as Master Yandios studies the movements of the opponent. Whoever he was, he was quick and powerful. His bladeplay was a bit deceptive and watching it seems to tug at memories in the back of Reden’s head. The attacker was pushing her back? Their skill with the blade must have been high level indeed. The Jedi Master watches closely, trying to pick up on any details he could from the attacker. 

“Freeze,” he suddenly says. The video stops and he points towards the attacker’s hand. “Zoom in on his weapon hand,” he says absentmindedly, moving in a bit closer. As the picture enlarges, Reden feels his body go cold. The hilt looks to be made of a silvery material, slightly curved, and no obvious buttons adorning it. Even with the slightly blurred picture, Reden could almost swear he could make out the etchings of the glass strider parade that detail the sides of the curved tube. “I know that saber,” he says in a hushed voice. “Master?” Teikoss asks softly. Reden shakes his head, trying to steel himself for what was to come. The conclusion was already determined.

“Play.” The screen zooms out as Shan’aria resumes fighting for her life against the lightsaber wielding attacker. Without audio, he couldn’t tell what was being said, but from his experience training her, he could see that she was becoming more and more agitated as the fight dragged on. Master Yandios watches stoically as he watches the exact moment she loses the battle. The moment she goes on the offensive. In that moment, Reden knew how she had been brought down. The assailant had played to her emotions and put her out of balance with herself. She was putting too much force into her swings, trying to score any hit she could on her opponent. Her body and mind were both off balance and it wouldn’t be long before…there! After blocking one swing, the bright blue blade slices down through the center of the staffsaber. Both blades deactivate as a shocked expression appears on Shan’aria’s face. 

The attacker’s hand closed around her throat and she was lifted up off the ground, grasping desperately at the dark gloved hand around her neck. Her mouth worked soundlessly as she thrashed against the iron grip, her hands gradually slowing. The panic in her eyes and on her face were evident even with the quality of the holovid Reden watches. Her arms slow slightly, just a single arm clinging to the assailants wrist. The attacker’s head tilts slightly to the side before the blue glowing blade is thrust up through the former Padawan’s chest. Almost immediately her body stilled its thrashing. The blade deactivates as she is dropped to the ground like refuse. The attacker stared down at her body for a few moments before kneeling and picking up one of the saber halves.

Reden feels his anger beginning to rise like magma within his chest. This person, this monster had heartlessly slain his former student and left her in the street to die like a beast. They would pay, whoever they were. Master Yandios would make sure of it. He crosses his arms over his chest and continues to watch the vid, taking note of any clue that would help him to learn more about his opponent. The black armored being then paused and looked up directly into the lens of the recorder. A hand came up and rested on the bottom of the helmet. Behind him, there were still civilians running about, but they had all but stopped now. Everything was focused on the dark armored warrior. Reden could feel the anticipation growing within him. Was the helmet going to be removed? He had to know who it was beneath that mask. The helmet is gripped and pulled off and Reden’s arms drop.

“Freeze,” he says suddenly as he stares into the face on the screen. It couldn’t be. No, it shouldn’t be. He was dead. He had died, hadn’t he? But his eyes did not deceive him. Not this time. On the screen, standing over his deceased former padawan, is none other than his old friend, Jetaro. He looked older than he had been. His hair had grown longer and had been drawn out into braids. There hadn’t been lines on his face when last they had been in one another’s presence. Not before that fated mission. “No…there must be some mistake. He died years ago,” Reden thinks aloud, even though he knew better. Before him was, indeed, his old friend. Nothing on that face or in his stance showed remorse for his actions. He looked quite at peace with what he had done.

“I want everything we have on the former Padawan, Jetaro, and whoever this man on the screen is. He is clearly dangerous and I understand why the Council wants me to go after him. I will accept this mission, but I need all the information you can muster sent to my quarters as soon as possible. I will be there until the Council needs me,” he says as he spins on his heel and walks off. Even though his face held a stoic and strong visage, something within him had broken. Things were different now and he had to be ready to do whatever was necessary. Even if it meant killing a man he once called brother….


End file.
